In 2018 I relied heavily on David Sharp’s The Thames Path National Trail Guide for walking, and for paddling, Nicholson’s Waterways Guide 7 (River Thames & the Southern Waterways-although a 2006 edition bought from a 2nd hand bookshop, whilst some of the riparian surroundings had changed, the course of the river had not). Both guides were extremely helpful not only during the planning stages but also on the journey itself.

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For online resources, I used National Trail’s website, Thames Path section, which has a very helpful Plan Your Journey option. For paddling, I used two Apps: the Environment Agency’s App River Thames River Conditions, and the River Thames Guide (the official British Marine App which includes a journey planner, weather forecasts and lock information).

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I also had a useful traditional foldout map of the entire river and Thames Path (published by the Environment Agency).

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In 2022, preparing for the Coastal Path extension was somewhat different. Because the route had only recently opened, there were no dedicated maps or guides. Instead, I relied on Transport for London’s map and description of section 4 of the Thames Path (Thames Barrier to River Darent) then the first part of section 1 of the London Orbital Outer Path (‘the London Loop’), from Erith to Barnes Cray near Dartford Marshes. From there, I used Google maps and Kent County Council’s online Public Rights of Way map. Finally, from Gravesend OS Explorer 163 map of the Hoo Peninsula was indispensable for finding my way around creeks and marshes, and for reaching a village or settlement for transport to and from London at the beginning or end of a day’s walking.  Other keen walkers had already gone before me: Derick Rethans’ account of walking the Thames Path extension in January 2022, very soon after it opened, was very helpful; and Ian Tokelove’s photographs and accounts of the wild, open spaces and walking routes around the estuary on his website Remote London were inspirational. These gave me a sense of what to expect.

The route is waymarked (mostly) and quite easy to follow. But when it diverges from the river, especially around industrial or commercial sites in outer London, it can be quite difficult to find your way around, or to reconnect with the path. On one day in April, walking from Greenhithe to Gravesend, I was exasperated by two tiresome diversions which Kent County Council had put in place so soon after the Path had opened. 

Books helped to inspire me to Follow the Thames. At the very beginning, there were certain books which had raised my curiosity and made me want to discover more: Peter Ackroyd’s magnificent Thames Sacred River, and Tom Chesshyre’s From Source to Sea. I re-read Kenneth Grahame’s Wind in the Willows with delight. Much later, I came across 

John Eade's website Where Thames Smooth Waters Glide-a fantastic resource.

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Then there was Caroline Crampton’s The Way to The Sea, which I read soon after I had completed my journey to the Thames Barrier and Woolwich: her account of living on a boat on the Thames and sailing the estuary as a child, and her rediscovery of it all as an adult, confirmed how much there was, still, to see. Charles Dickens’ close association with North Kent is well-known. His haunting descriptions of fog-bound bogs and marshes, and the spectre of prison ships on the Thames, in Great Expectations, brought history to life. Finally, Historic England’s publication The Hoo Peninsula Landscape (2015) by Sarah Newsome, Edward Carpenter and Peter Kendall, is a wonderful account of the Hoo Peninsula’s history, its people and life there.

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But these are only a small selection of the many books I have read and am yet to read about this magnificent river.

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